Water Use and Reuse Stream Projects

Public health risk in use of biosolids as fertilisers in agriculture

Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) holder, Karen Schwarz, is studying the potential public health risk from pathogens associated with the use of biosolids as fertilisers in agriculture.

Preliminary work was established in 2004 where she began studying survival patterns of enteric pathogens for her Honours project. This led to Karen’s involvement in a larger project entitled “Risk Assessment for Pathogens and Organic Contaminants in Biosolids”. Karen, who is one of three PhD students working on this project, is studying the survival of pathogens found in biosolids applied to agricultural land.

The project is funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment (CRCWQT), the Water Corporation in Western Australia and the Victorian Department of Human Services.

The project involves three PhD students studying the following:

• Mrs K Schwarz, (Curtin University of Technology, Northam) studying the pathogens Salmonella spp., E. coli , bacteriophage, Adenovirus and cryptosporidium;
• Mr B Clarke ( RMIT University , Melbourne ) is studying persistent organic pollutants (POPs) which include "dioxins", polybrominated diphenyl ethers, organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, and phthalates; and
• Ms K Langdon (University of Adelaide) studying non-organochlorine pesticides, pharmaceuticals, personal care products and endocrine disruptors.

The first project is supervised by Dr Simon Toze (CSIRO Land and Water) and Dr Deborah Pritchard (Curtin University); the second by Dr Nichola Porter and Prof. Phil Marriott (both of RMIT) while the third is supervised by Dr Rai Kookana both of CSIRO Land and Water.

Timeline

Expected date of completion is 2008.